Stravinsky and Picasso famously collaborated in the creation of Pulcinella for Diaghilev's Ballet Russes in 1920. Specifically created for television in a "blue studio," and combining sets with computer animation using a technique reflecting traditional painting methods, this version of the ballet draws on that same idea, while incorporating styles ranging from classical painting to the artistic avant-garde.

"This is a ballet to a complete performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella, using the stock characters of Italian commedia dell 'arte, as the composer intended. The dancers are real, but the setting consists of computer animations of drawings which evoke late Matisse…. This performance, sung in Italian, was filmed in 1997 at a TV studio in Lugano, Switzerland, high in the Italian Alps."—American Record Guide